Biomedical Engineering Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Biomater Sci. 2020 Jun 21;8(12):3522-3535. doi: 10.1039/d0bm00521e. Epub 2020 May 26.
Several different self-assembling peptide systems that form nanofibers have been investigated as vaccine platforms, but design principles for adjusting the character of the immune responses they raise have yet to be well articulated. Here we compared the immune responses raised by two structurally dissimilar peptide nanofibers, one a β-sheet fibrillar system (Q11), and one an α-helical nanofiber system (Coil29), hypothesizing that integrated T-cell epitopes within the latter would promote T follicular helper (Tfh) cell engagement and lead to improved antibody titers and quality. Despite significantly different internal structures, nanofibers of the two peptides exhibited surprisingly similar nanoscale morphologies, and both were capable of raising strong antibody responses to conjugated peptide epitopes in mice without adjuvant. Both were minimally inflammatory, but as hypothesized Coil29 nanofibers elicited antibody responses with higher titers and avidities against a conjugated model epitope (OVA) and a candidate peptide epitope for vaccination against S. aureus. Subsequent investigation indicated that Coil29 nanofibers possessed internal CD4+ T cell epitopes: whereas Q11 nanofibers required co-assembly of additional CD4+ T cell epitopes to be immunogenic, Coil29 nanofibers did not. Coil29 nanofibers also raised stronger germinal center B cell responses and follicular helper T cell (Tfh) responses relative to Q11 nanofibers, likely facilitating the improvement of the antibody response. These findings illustrate design strategies for improving humoral responses raised by self-assembled peptide nanofibers.
已经有几种不同的自组装肽系统被研究作为疫苗平台,这些系统可以形成纳米纤维,但是调整它们引起的免疫反应特性的设计原则尚未得到很好的阐述。在这里,我们比较了两种结构不同的肽纳米纤维引起的免疫反应,一种是β-折叠纤维状系统(Q11),另一种是α-螺旋纳米纤维系统(Coil29),假设后者中的整合 T 细胞表位将促进滤泡辅助性 T 细胞(Tfh)细胞的参与,并导致抗体滴度和质量的提高。尽管两种肽的纳米纤维具有明显不同的内部结构,但它们表现出惊人相似的纳米级形态,并且都能够在没有佐剂的情况下在小鼠中引发针对共轭肽表位的强烈抗体反应。两种纳米纤维都具有低炎症性,但如假设的那样,Coil29 纳米纤维引发的针对共轭模型表位(OVA)和金黄色葡萄球菌疫苗候选肽表位的抗体反应具有更高的滴度和亲和力。随后的研究表明,Coil29 纳米纤维具有内部 CD4+ T 细胞表位:虽然 Q11 纳米纤维需要额外的 CD4+ T 细胞表位共同组装才能具有免疫原性,但 Coil29 纳米纤维则不需要。与 Q11 纳米纤维相比,Coil29 纳米纤维还引发了更强的生发中心 B 细胞反应和滤泡辅助性 T 细胞(Tfh)反应,可能有助于改善抗体反应。这些发现说明了用于提高自组装肽纳米纤维引起的体液免疫反应的设计策略。
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